We believe in a world where biodiversity counts

Naomi Kingston

Leading the portfolio of work on Protected Areas at UNEP-WCMC, Naomi oversees the tracking of global progress towards international protected area targets. The programme also provides support to nations and regions in the development of their protected areas networks, and in meeting commitments under the Multilateral Environmental Agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the World Heritage Convention.

Previous experience & expertise

Following a PhD in Conservation Biology from Trinity College, Dublin, Naomi worked as a post-doctoral research fellow and as an environmental consultant, before spending nearly ten years as a Conservation Scientist with the Irish government’s nature conservation agency. She has extensive experience of working on the interface between ecological studies and information management, promoting the open sharing of biodiversity data to improve conservation decision making.

Recent work by Naomi Kingston

Protected Planet, a joint initiative of UNEP-WCMC and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, sets out to be a unique and prominent platform for building the World Database of Protected Areas, undertaking analyses that underpin decision-making, networking and communicating with protected area stakeholders and influencing the achievement of global goals that rely on the world’s protected areas.

Protected Areas Resilient to Climate Change sets out to develop strategies and tools to increase the resilience of protected areas to climate change, and build capacity. To achieve these aims, the project heavily relies on the support from all its local, regional, and international partners. The project is currently active in West Africa, with plans to roll it out to other regions.